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Hi all, this is my first time writing a Vegas trip report even though DH and I have been seasonal Vegas visitors for quite many years. I have always enjoyed reading reports and figure I’ll write one this time around. The trip was taken from September 27th to October 4th, a total of 8 days, 7 nights. I happened to score tickets to the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) thus trying to align our room offers with the dates it’s held.

We started driving in the morning from California, and stopped at Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers in Victorville for a quick lunch. I try to pick a new restaurant as a pit stop on the drive to Vegas every time. The steakburger was ok. I still prefer 5 Guys and In N Out’s depending on how big of a meal I want. The frozen custard on the other hand was good and smooth.

Checking in at the Cosmopolitan was smooth as well, at around 4pm. We were comp’ed a Terrace Studio. The balcony overlooks the Strip and hi, Britney!

We checked out the busy casino a bit and then it was time for our dinner reservation at Rose Rabbit Lie. They used to have the Nocturne show but now only have some singers and dancers in the dining room as entertainment. I knew about it and booked the table anyway, thinking it’d be a nice, relaxing way to start off a night in Vegas. Being not a fan of loud noises, I requested a quiet booth which could see the entertainment in the online reservation. The request was delivered. However, the tables are generally a better choice than the booth to see the entertainment. There were singing, tap dancing, and break dancing during our dinner. The meal was fantastic. With that said, we made some mistakes of ordering all heavy, greasy dishes. Truffle eggs, roasted foie gras, bone marrow, beef stroganoff, and pork belly. You get the idea. We were stuffed therefore passed on dessert. Upon ordering, we told our server we would like the food to come out in a good slow pace so we wouldn’t feel rushed; we were rushed. The bill included a live entertainment tax.

Usually we stayed in the East Tower at Cosmo but this time we’re given a room in the West Tower instead. At first we thought it was an “upgrade” as it gives a nicer strip view. Unfortunately, it took away our sleep. Music was busting downstairs all night, starting from the concert at the Blvd Pool, then the outdoor bar at Planet Hollywood across the street. It went all night till possibly sunrise. We never had any noise issue before in the other tower.

(I seem to be running into a lot of trouble resizing and posting photos from Photobucket from my pc. Does any of the 3 photos show properly on your computer?)

Without much sleep, we got up to go to lunch across the street at Gordon Ramsay BurGR at Planet Hollywood. We’re fans of his food after visiting some of his other restaurants. I heard great things about this burger place but felt skeptical. Can’t help to wonder how good a burger could be created by non-Americans. There was a non-/barely moving line, 20ish people deep. We walked up to the front showing our Diamond TR card and got seated right away. I tried not to catch eye contact with any one in line. Service was pretty slow but it was okay as we were still tired. DH got the Hell’s Kitchen burger and I got the Farm burger, the one with a fried egg, with an order of truffle fries to share. I like my burger and like DH’s even better after taking a bite of his. Fantastic burgers. Every ingredient goes together and they were executed perfectly. I now rank Gordon Ramsay BurGR above Holstein’s at Cosmopolitan and BLT Burgers at Mirage. We paid for the meal with TR Quick Rewards.

After lunch, we stopped by the Planet Hollywood TR desk to get a printout of my free birthday drink and free show tickets. I didn’t end up using the drink voucher because it was only good for a few days and by the time I remembered it, it was expired. We got a printout for 2 free Diamond tickets of Recycled Percussion at the desk but we had to go to the box office at the LINQ where the show is to get the actual tickets.
The Walgreens next to PH is great. We picked up some water and toiletries and dropped them off to our room at Cosmo. It was very convenient.

We pretty much just walked around for the rest of the day, checking out some art at the P3 Studio at Cosmopolitan, in picture above, and the Gallery outside of Aria in the CityCenter, of Chihuly and more. Of course there were some window shopping at Crystal and a Starbucks coffee break. I was disappointed that Starbucks location does not run the Autumn latte discount promotion. The Salted Caramel espresso drink was yummy.

It was approaching late dinner time and I had plans for us to go off strip for some all-you-can-eat sushi. We didn’t feel starving and DH was craving some noodle soup, so I suggested to check out Paris’ Yong Kang Street, which had just opened for a few days. We asked if they would take TR points and they said no. It was not set up. We decided to eat there anyway. It was half empty and we got seated along the promenade. We each got a bowl of beef noodle soup. One bowl came. Then we saw the kitchen sent food out to others so after 10 minutes or so, we asked for the other bowl. They apologized and brought out the 2nd bowl. Hope kinks like this are no longer an issue by now. After all, I felt the beef noodle soup is still the best at Noodle Asia at the Venetian. This is how I’d rate noodle soups on the strip: Noodle Asia at the Venetian > Noodles at Bellagio > Beijing Noodles No 9 at Caesars Palace > Yong Kang Street

The whole time I was sitting at the table on the patio, I was eyeing the dessert shop on the other side. We stopped there for a peach tart. There they took Quick Rewards.

Sunday night at the Cosmo. Noise from the said bar at PH was still an issue.

Today was check-out day at Cosmopolitan. We applied some credits towards room charges. Resort fee was waived. DH found out he made Sterling, a new tier at Cosmopolitan. Sterling gives 1 comp night per year and BOGO free buffet at Wicked Spoon. I wasn’t impressed by the brunch buffet in a previous trip but with half off, I may feel different.

Since we had quite a few hours before check-in time at Harrah’s, we were going to check out the South end of the Strip. Lunch was at the Mandalay Bay buffet, with a BOGO reward from MyVegas. The MLife desk there had a separate line for MyVegas and almost everyone was in that line. It took a few minutes for it to go through. It was the 3rd reward I picked up with leftover loyalty points. I was never impressed by this buffet and this trip was the same, but did enjoy their donuts at the dessert station.

After lunch, we drove to NYNY and found the parking garage very difficult to find due to the construction between NYNY and Monte Carlo. Some MLife promotion was going on and a guy was sitting in front of the promotion kiosk entering tickets to earn FreePlay. We stopped to watch for a bit but all of them were paying the minimum ($5?) and he still had a huge stack of tickets in hand when we walked off to head to MGM Grand. After we crossed the bridge, near the Rainforest Café was a guy yelling “Free Show Tickets”. Those tickets were for the TV show research focus group.

Because of some Groupon(or was it LivingSocial) discount, we went to check out the CSI Experience. It costs about $20 for 2 after some promo code. Hey, we could have lost that in a machine in a couple of minutes. The attraction is located all the way at the back. A David Copperfield machine caught my eye on the way so I stopped there for a minute. It didn’t like me very much. Watching a David Copperfield show is still on my buckle list. So, the CSI Experience. It’s a good family event especially going with kids. DH and I were put in a group alone and went to solve the car wreck case. The layout inside was kind of confusing as we had to guess which station to go next. At the end, I solved the case but DH didn’t. Aha! I had my certificate sent to my email address before exiting. It killed a good hour or so.

We walked back to NYNY to check out their latest addition, Hershey’s World. Like what many had reviewed, it’s glamorized retail store of Hershey’s chocolates and products. The refrigerator case was huge and some items looked very tempting.

Check-in at Harrah’s was at 4pm and we drove there around then. We found the Diamond check-in and there was about a 5-10 minute wait. The nice lady upgraded us to a suite with a Jacuzzi. After parting with Cosmo today, I thought I wouldn’t be able to soak in a Jacuzzi again and I was happily being wrong! They also gave us a book of coupons including some free play credit at various casinos like Bally’s and The Cromwell. The suite was pretty dated and expected. The room offer comes with a slot tournament at the Flamingo. We hurried ourselves to the Diamond Lounge downstairs to grab some snacks before the food got put away at 6pm. No sight of anyone offering drinks there the whole 15 minutes we were seated. We left and walked to Flamingo thirsty. The slot tournament at Flamingo was set up on the 2nd floor in the conference rooms. DH picked his times at registration and we went back downstairs to try out their slots.
We stopped by The Quad’s Box Office, while it was still called The Quad, to pick our seats for the show “Recycled Percussion” for tomorrow.

Not sure where to go for dinner, we walked around quite a bit to hopefully walk by a place which would entice us to give it a try at Caesars Palace. DH wanted a simple dinner so we checked out the menu at Central Gordon Ramsay Pub and Grill, Beijing Noodle No. 9, Central, Mesa Grill, Homestead, etc. Nothing we both were in the mood for. (Yes it was kind of ridiculous.) We walked through the forum shops and landed in front of our hotel, Harrah’s. “Let’s check out Fulton Street Food Hall.” I suggested. Fulton Street Food Hall was recently open at Harrah’s and after our experience at Yong Kang Street at Paris the night before, I was skeptical. It was like a blend of a cafeteria and a food court. We chose the Asian food there and were “talked into” sitting at the bar by the lady behind the noodle bar. You can order and get your food in plastic utensils and plates to sit in the main hall, or in silverware and real plates at the bar. The other difference is that you tip for service if sitting at the bar. We ordered a plate of shrimp fried rice and Singaporean fried vermicelli to share. Both dishes were surprisingly fresh and delicious for a food court, I mean, food hall. TR members get a small discount there and we paid for the meal with Quick Rewards.

Slots were pretty tight at Harrah’s so we called it a night. I was extremely tired from the walking and lack of sleep, so tried to relax in the Jacuzzi. There was an issue. The hotel called us shortly after the Jacuzzi started to drain and said there was a water leak to the room downstairs. We said we’d stop using it from now on and they offered to get us moved to another room. On the phone they said someone would come into the room tomorrow to fix the Jacuzzi and we were to be moved to another room. Neither happened during the remainder of our stay at Harrah’s.

Today was the first day of G2E and I was super excited. We finally got some rest and hurried to walk across the street to the Mirage for their buffet. It was another BOGO reward from MyVegas. It was good for breakfast and lunch so I was hoping to get in during the end of breakfast hours for the cheaper rate and we made it in time! Note that the Mirage buffet reward does not come with a line pass so in order to expedite the wait, you need to be at least a silver at MLife. I visited this buffet for lunch years ago and the difference I noticed is the self-serve drink fountain. Everything we tried was decent. It’s definitely a step up from the Mandalay Bay buffet. Prior to leaving Mirage, I stopped by the soon-to-close-then Kardashian Khaos store to see what merchandises was offered…

DH had his 1st round of slot tournament at the Flamingo. It did not look very good.

G2E was held at the Venetian convention center this year. I planned our lodging in the area for convenience for the few days. We checked in and got our badges at the registration. There was only an hour or two left for the Expo that day so we were just going to stroll through the vendors, saving checking out the new slots for the next two days. At half past five, there was a welcome reception at Tao, organized by the Expo, and so we went. The whole place was closed for the private event. The long line outside moved very quickly but very slow once inside. We visited Tao to club ages ago and it was reaching full capacity so I was only able to see the large bar at the front. This time I went upstairs to the actual club and walked up some dark, un-glamourous stairs to Tao Beach. Tao Beach was smaller than I had imagined. Even the dance floor in the main area indoor was tiny. I don’t quite get the hype of Tao for clubbing. My favorite is XS at Encore. After 15 minutes and a drink, we walked out to catch our show at The Quad.

Recycled Percussion was an interesting show, which encourages audience participation with pots and pans as noise makers. DH had fun playing “drums”. It was surprising there were not many kids that night. Note: if you’re sensitive to noise such as me, ask for ear plugs. We were so glad that we asked before the show started. They put them at the back of the theater for grabs. The drink service at the theater was cash only. By the way, the usher upgraded our seats to a booth which was nice. They were passing out free Divas show tickets on our way out. We left them at some slots so that others may enjoy them.

There was still over an hour’s time until our dinner reservation at Giada at the Cromwell. We walked over anyway. It was an easy walk. I planned to use the $100 Diamond celebration dinner voucher at Giada tonight so we went to the TR desk to get it printed. There was only one counter open and it took forever for the line to move. The Cromwell has a nice casino, with a cool vibe and a decent selection of slots. The cocktail service was superb. One odd thing. There was a small group of tourists filming travel/home videos inside the casino restroom.

That night, on a Tuesday, I was able to “score” a table at Giada at 9:30pm, with a two weeks advance booking online. This meal was something I’ve been looking forward to, considering I’m a fan of Giada de Laurentiis from Food Network. We arrived on time and had a 10-minute wait. The photo booth was out of order. I requested a table which could see the fountain and this is what we got:

An okay table. The food was good. The orso meatballs are to die for. Simply the best. I can eat those meatballs every day. Other dishes like octopus and bacon wrapped dates were good. The popular lemon spaghetti with shrimp was substituted with scallops as they were running out of shrimps. I was slightly disappointed but DH was very pleased with the scallops.

We got the chicken cacciatore for two, and a side of spicy corn. The breast pieces were a bit dry but the flavor of the skin was delicious. Here is the before and after:

Unlike Rose Rabbit Lie on Saturday, the dishes at Giada came out at a good pace. We were able to take it slow and enjoy every bite. The whole place was turning tables all night. First con: the server spilled water around our glasses every single time; second con: my bread basket had no bread sticks. Overall was a nice meal. It was overhyped that I felt some slight disappointment. We were stuffed and skipped desserts again. Maybe because of that, there was nothing they did to acknowledge I was there to celebrate my upcoming birthday.

We headed back to Harrah’s and got some rest. Wifi access was pretty bad here. There was no message on the phone asking to move us so we stayed in the same suite for another night without touching the broken Jacuzzi.

Today was October 1st, which means we could get another pair of free show tickets as Diamond. After picking up vouchers for Veronic Voices at the Harrah’s TR desk, we looked around to get breakfast. Fulton Street Food Hall downstairs offered sit-down breakfast service in the morning in a section of the area. We checked out their menu, which looked good, however decided it was too cramped and crowded for us at that time. Next door at The Quad had breakfast offerings at Guy Fieri’s so I went there considering one of these days we were going to check the place out anyway. DH saw a poster of the country fried bacon breakfast plate and had to order it. There was a small wait but with TR Diamond, we walked right in to get seated. Cool deco with a nice vibe. As for the food, it is what it is. Greasy and heavy. I enjoyed the sausage, eggs, scones, and juice shot and didn’t care for the rest. Food was filling so we couldn’t finish our plates.

After DH had another round of slots tournament at the Flamingo, we walked towards The Venetians to G2E and saw a slot tournament at Harrah’s. There was a line of people getting their TR cards scanned for entries. We both got in line to get our entries. It was a weekday, late morning to early afternoon promotion for those earning 10 or 20 points at Harrah’s slots, going every 15 minutes or so. One entry per day. We spent some unplanned time there without any luck and realized we were running late to check-in at the Palazzo for another 3-night stay. We hurried up to pack our luggage in the suite and then drove next, next door to the Palazzo.

Check-in at the Palazzo was smooth as usual. The suite had a golf course view which DH loves. DH had to go back to the Flamingo for the last round of the slots tournament. I went to G2E to check out the upcoming new slots instead. There were still a lot of people on the 2nd day of the expo.

A few new slots at G2E totally caught my attention: TV themes such as Friends and Sons of Anarchy, movie themes like Ted, and those on the special stage such as Britney Spears, Game of Throne, and new Buffalo. I like the new Buffalo slots the most. A German slots manufacturer came out with a slot machine in a pod. It looks interesting but I don’t see how casinos would want to put those on the floor considering spectators can’t see a thing when it hits. Many electronic table games were introduced on the floor so we should be expecting to see more of those in casinos. One of the days we saw a Playmate giving autographs and an Elvis impersonator. Outside the convention hall had a few photo opportunities with the Flintstones and Friends theme. What a fun event and I’d like to go again to the next ones.

We drove and parked our car at Bellagio knowing that’s where we were going to have dinner. I stopped by their spa shop to replenish my skin care supplies and took photos of the conservatory with an autumn theme. It’s a must stop every trip.

Not feeling any hunger yet, we walked to the other side of the Strip to CET properties to redeem some free play coupons from the coupon book we received when checking in at Harrah’s. A casino host at Bally’s approached my DH while playing slots and offered two tickets to see Jubilee that evening! We were given a choice of the early show in 10 minutes time or the later show. What a nice gesture! We went with the later show, which means we would be walking back to Bellagio now to grab dinner and coming back to Bally’s later in the evening.

Dinner was planned to be the Bellagio buffet, my 3rd and last MyVegas BOGO of the trip. Earning this buffet was my motivation to start playing the Facebook game a month prior to the trip. The lady at the MLife desk loaded my reward onto my entry level card and informed me to use the VIP line as long as I told the person guarding the line it was for MyVegas. No problem there. Good dishes included Chilean Seabass, nigiri sushi, roast duck, and the chilled seafood bar. The food choices were the same over the years except it appeared to be loaded with MSG this time around. Next time I’ll get the Aria buffet reward instead.

Because of the unplanned show Jubilee to watch, we couldn’t give much play to Bellagio after dinner. We drove to Bally’s as there was too much walking today. Bally’s and Paris share the same parking structure. Neither my DH nor I had watched Jubilee before. I watched a copycat one overseas and thought it was just alright so it never crossed our minds to choose this show when claiming free Diamond show tickets. Jubilee turned out to be surprisingly entertaining. The modern dance skit with the two men was my DH’s favorite. I fell in love with the Showgirls’ white sparkling outfit at the ending. The Egyptian and Titanic themes were both interesting.

Bally’s TR desk has very limited hours during weekdays, like closing at 6pm. We barely made it to get the free play from the coupon. You couldn’t take that coupon to redeem at another TR desk such as Paris or the Cromwell’s. However we got our seats selected at the Bally’s box office for the show Veronic Voices for Friday.

Results of my DH’s Flamingo tournament came out. He won $100 of free play. We crashed at the Palazzo that night.

My DH woke up early to participate in the first round of the slot tournament which came with the room offer at Palazzo. There were two other promotions running at Grazie: a daily tournament where you earn an entry from playing slots during certain hours, and a box of free candies with slot play. Unfortunately, we did not play enough during those specific hours so were unable to participate either. We met up and walked over to Harrah’s to check-out of our suite. Long line at the lobby, and since we did not run a balance there, we were told there was no need to show up to check-out.

Even though we already had buffets at Bellagio, Mirage and Mandalay Bay on this trip, it wouldn’t be complete without a meal at Caesar Palace’s Bacchanal Buffet, which had been my recent favorite. Not only we were able to use up some TR credits, we woke up early enough, well actually almost jogged to make it to the cashier two minutes before they started charging the lunch prices. Zero wait at the Diamond line. At this point, we were slightly buffeted out, therefore only picked out what other buffets did not serve, like the lobster corn chowder, shrimp and grits, scallop ceviche, and their much better selection of Asian food. I also love their fresh fruit juices near the soup station.

The last day of G2E had shorter hours than the first two. We had one more area of new slots to check out and when done, took some photos at the Friends backdrop and the Flintstone’s setup. You would think the last day would be dead. Nope. Many who worked there at booths used the last few hours to check out new games.

The new SLS casino was on our agenda for the rest of the day, but first, we stopped by Wynn to view the famous Popeye statue. It took a while to locate it even after directions given from a security guard who was watching the other statue done by the same artist.

Because we had no luck at Wynn and Encore in recent trips (and no comps), we did not try their slots at all and walked out, driving up north to SLS. We eyed the Happy Blob at the valet and turned into their parking structure. Plenty of parking, which means it’s probably quiet inside. Yes it was.

October was my birthday month. Of course I had to make good use of the birthday perks to their player’s club members. I found the Code desk in the back and patiently waited in line for my turn. I had a lucky “spin” which paid $5 free play for signing up, and asked to have the $30 off $60 discount loaded onto my card for dinner that night at Bazaar Meat where I made a reservation. SLS was running a promotion to give out 2 free buffets if earning 500 points at slots. We were able to come back in a few days to use it. Well, we had to, because the buffet switched to open only in weekends and it was a Thursday. There are some interesting perks as being a member of The Code as the membership applies to the hotel group and restaurants worldwide. For example, the 50% off food at restaurants in 3 different cities sounds good. I saw it afterwards on the website and there was no further info I could find online on this. Let me know if anyone here knows more. Thanks.

We enjoyed the slots selection there and had a good run. They say new casinos always open loose and it could be the case. Both DH and I could not understand the bad rep of the SLS casino. Newest slots. Dark and relaxing. Roomy and well ventilated. Decent cocktail service. Great promotions. Last but not least, they have a fantastic line up of restaurants!

Bazaar Meat was a full house on a Thursday night. The dining room was very fun and inviting. The menu focuses on great and/or expensive steaks, exotic meats and some interesting creations. Some dishes we ordered were:
- Cotton candy foie gras
- Foieffle air waffle
- Pan prenao Spanish “pig in a blanket” (I meant to order the Suckling Pig Crispy sandwich but guess I ordered wrong)
- Wagyu beef cheeks
- Grilled baby corn

Everything was excellent with the pig in a blanket being just good but at least it served as our filler food. The cotton candy foie gras was the best dish of the night, followed by the beef cheeks. The pacing of the dishes was good unlike our meal at Rose.Rabbit.Lie. When the plate of beef cheeks arrived, I was looking all over for a knife as there was none on our table. As it turned out, a knife was not necessary to cut the beef cheeks as it was as soft as melted butter. The small piece on the plate was more than enough for two people. It was that rich, and so rich that that night back at the hotel, I had to get DH to make a quick run to the Walgreens to get me some Aspirin to relieve my chest pain. I suspect the two are related. Anyhow, it was a fantastic meal and I would love to come back one day to try out some other dishes. At the end, they brought out a good sized chocolate dessert to celebrate my birthday and sang me a happy birthday song. The dessert was heavenly. The $30 discount was applied to the check without a problem. The overall service there was top notch, better than Rose.Rabbit.Lie, and way better than Giada.

A little bit more slots play after dinner gave us two free buffets on the player’s card. We made plans to come back on Saturday for brunch to use it up before leaving Las Vegas.

I felt the chest pain right when returning to the Palazzo so had to call it a night. That’s a reason why we didn’t give Grazie more play.

I was sleeping in while DH finished off the slots tournament downstairs. He ended up winning like $150, better than how he did at the Flamingo. For lunch we were going to get some simple food and hopefully keep using Quick Rewards to pay for the meal. I suggested Beijing Noodle No 9 where I vetoed few days ago at Caesars Palace. There was a 20 minute wait so we walked into a store nearby selling all kinds of knick-knacks and gadgets. Just when we were done, our table was ready. I got a bowl of beef noodle soup and DH ordered Dan Dan Noodles. He’s particularly enjoying his noodles very much. The restaurant was very small, the smallest Chinese restaurant on the Strip I have visited. The ceiling looks very cool and it made me dizzy in a good way.

The LINQ was on the agenda today. It was right across the street from Caesars Palace. It’s an alley way lined with unique shops and restaurants leading to the High Roller. We spent some time browsing at Kitson and checking out the Polaroid Museum, which recently became free of charge to visit. Of course I had to show my DH the cupcake ATM machine at Sprinkles. A Total Reward booth/store was half way down the road at The LINQ, and I thought it was odd.

It was a hot afternoon and I wanted a milkshake or smoothie. We passed by Harrah’s and I couldn’t find anything like that at Fulton Street Food Hall. The coffee stand only had frozen coffee drinks ($8) and I thought it was close enough. Wish I went to Starbucks around the corner instead. At least I would know what I was going to get.

We went back to our suite at Palazzo to rest a bit and change, before heading out to Bally’s for Veronic Voices and a dinner at BLT Steak. The amount of walking this week was stretching our limit.

Veronic Voices was a singing show of her impersonating 50+ voices of famous singers. I recognized most of the songs. She has a fabulous voice and is extremely talented. I recommend this high energy show to anyone who enjoys music of the past half century. How did she run around the stage dancing and singing non-stop, live? Some of the voices were spot on. The show use the same theater as Jubilee so there was a déjà vu moment for me.

DH played some electronic roulette before it was time for our dinner reservation at BLT Steak. The steakhouse was tucked into the far back quiet corner next to a Thai restaurant which I didn’t even know existed. We got seated at a very nice booth. Ambience was dark and quiet. Even though we had quite a few nice meals on this trip already, DH always yearned for a traditional steakhouse dinner. After assessing all the steakhouse options at CET properties (to use up TR points), BLT Steak was chosen based on its reputation from its New York and overseas locations.

The server brought out some bread and a jar of liver moose as a started, then two giant popovers with butter. All complimentary. My DH loved them so much that he didn’t leave much room for the rest of the meal. We ordered crab cakes to share for appetizer. Good and fresh but nothing too memorable. I chose the dry-aged bone-in New York Steak while DH stuck to his favorite cut, the bone-in rib eye. (I forgot what side was ordered. Maybe stuffed mushrooms?) Whenever I go to try a new restaurant, I tend to order what they are known for. In contrary, DH likes to stay within his comfort zone. It turned out my NY Steak was much juicer and more tender than his well-marbled rib eye steak. To this day I still rave about my steak at BLT. They have the best ever New York Steak. DH left half of his rib eye on the plate and was full. To celebrate my birthday, they sent me a small chocolate dessert. No happy birthday song, which is totally okay. I blew out the candle and made a wish. The meal was so good that I have recently made another reservation for our upcoming Vegas trip.

Food coma hit us. I wanted a fruit cup so we went to a coffee shop at Paris to pick one up, paying with Quick Rewards again, and we called it a night, trying to get some rest before having to leave Vegas tomorrow.

Last day. We woke up, packed, and tried to get some comp at the Grazie desk for some pastries at Buchon Bakery, where makes the best macarons. The system at Grazie for comps is a lot more complicated than MLife and TR. You have to go to the Grazie desk to get a voucher printed first. You can only get the values at certain increments. I think we did $15 so it covered two big macarons, a bread and an almond croissant. We ate the macarons right away and took the rest home. They tasted very good still, the day after…

Since we had earned two buffets at SLS on Thursday, we headed back to SLS to use them for brunch before a long drive home. There were more people on a Saturday on the casino floor. With the earned buffets on the card, you can simply go straight to the buffet cashier to redeem. It took some scooping out to find where the buffet was located. Upstairs and you pass a hall way of clocks. Okay, I did some research on this buffet. At first I was very excited about having a new buffet on the Strip but the negative reviews everywhere made me scratch the idea of making a special trip to pay for one.

I actually like the SLS buffet very much, and am very sad to hear about it closing. There was a very small selection of dishes, however, they had exactly what I wanted to eat. Whoever planned their menu must have read my mind. Every single item I tasted was fresh, delicious, and of high quality ingredients. The chefs there must have paid good attention to the cooking. The highlights were the Chinese station with good and authentic dim sum, noodle dishes, and the fresh salmon sushi. This was the only place they got the sushi and dim sum right. Does the buffet justify whatever prices they charge if not comped? Maybe not. But if you ask which major casino buffet has the best quality of food, this is it. Service was extremely good as well. Our server was basically standing by to serve us. Near the end of our meal, the line became very long when a group of people from a convention came to the buffet. Again, I’m very sad to see this place is closing.

After the big meal, I walked to the Code desk to ask what I could do with the points earned on my card from slots, and if there was any shopping outlet I could buy something with the points. The girl said Fred Segal wasn’t set up and there was no gift shop I could use the points to make a purchase. At that time only restaurants would take them. I decided to save them for a future visit. Just before we were able to get ourselves out the door to start driving home, we made 500 points and earned another 2 buffets.

The drive home was not bad. No one really leaves Vegas on a Saturday. We stopped by the outlet at Barstow but didn’t get anything. It was around 9pm and we were hungry so pulled up to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. This put a nice end of this 8-day Vegas vacation.

In conclusion, we felt like we did a lot during the trip, with as much free stuff we could get as possible. We wish we did a lot more sleeping than being on the casino floor. We learnt our lesson not to order super rich and greasy food so often. Thank you for reading as I know my writing isn't very good. Feel free to leave any comment or question as I'd love to read them. :wave2:

Yeah, now come to think of it, maybe the TR is too long-winded. lol
I'd rate Bazaar Meat to be a tad better than BLT, considering the former does both traditional steaks and exotic dishes for the adventurous.

Lots of great detail. I didn't make it to SLS on my October trip even though it was on my list of things to do. Has the buffet already closed? How do you get tickets for G2E; I'd like to attend that.

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I read online few days ago the SLS buffet was going to close on Sunday, but am not sure last Sunday or this coming Sunday. I'll find out this weekend.
As for the G2E tickets, one day I was browsing slots manufacturer websites looking for a specific slots game and came across a banner on one of them inviting people to be their guests at the expo. I signed up and the registration went through. Later on I read that many slots companies offer that so keep checking their websites.

Thank you for your trip report! It was enjoyable to read and to hear about the different restaurants. Bazaar Meats sounds interesting. I love burgers and so now maybe I will try the GR BurGR place when I go in February. One question though, why did you not ask for a room change at the noisy Cosmo? But then the two of you sound so laid back maybe you just thought, "oh well". Again, thank you for writing such a nice report.

Thank you for your trip report! It was enjoyable to read and to hear about the different restaurants. Bazaar Meats sounds interesting. I love burgers and so now maybe I will try the GR BurGR place when I go in February. One question though, why did you not ask for a room change at the noisy Cosmo? But then the two of you sound so laid back maybe you just thought, "oh well". Again, thank you for writing such a nice report.

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The first night on Saturday we were thinking the loud music would eventually stop. Now we know the partying scene on the strip goes all night long! Then we thought, maybe things would be different Sunday night with most visitors leaving during the day. We were wrong again. Can't say I've ever requested to change to a different hotel room before. I'd usually take the negatives as a lesson and choose wisely in the future.